The Trouble with Time Travel
by SoulWeaver Balinia
Summary: Dean Warlic's personal protégé, Astra, is sent on a mission to the future in a rickety old phone box. With the people she meets along the way, she tries to figure out what her mission entails and how they're going to: a) stop Lust, b) teach Astra magic, and c) get Astra home without Cysero's help (because "Cysero's help" isn't really all that helpful). MechQuest xover
1. Chapter 1: Astra

I was bored. Incredibly, stupidly bored, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I was lying on the bed in my dorm, wishing the mattress was more comfortable. There was something I could have been doing right then, but it didn't seem worth the effort.

I could have tried cleaning up my room. There was some old pizza on the wall, left over from one of the GEARS University Anniversary Parties, and dirty clothes all over the floor. Even the bed was unmade, and I was on top of it. I didn't even know the last time the sheets had been washed. However, if I had ended up getting my room in working order, when I left and came back, it would once again be a disaster area. One of the stupid Wolfblade boys from across the hall would show up and wreck the place. It made me wish we had keycards so only the owner would have access to his or her dorm, and actually keep personal items in our rooms without fear of thieves or pranksters from different houses.

I sighed dispiritedly, and heaved myself off the Ebilcorp-supplied mattress. I walked over to the wardrobe, put on my Runehawk uniform, and tied the ends of my medium-length brown hair into a ponytail. I had already taken a shower earlier. After arranging my bangs so they wouldn't get in my way, I shut the door to my room and travelled down the hall to the elevator, and pressed the button that would take me to the Runehawk common room.

Primarily known as academics, Runehawk members are often teased by members of our rival house, Wolfblade, for being meek and untested in combat. It should be noted, however, that Dean Warlic himself was once a Runehawk, as was Sys-Zero. Plus, we beat Wolfblade in the last GEARS Games, so they shouldn't be bragging.

However, I sort of agreed with their interpretation of our fashion sense. The boots were very strange looking, and I knew for a fact that mine were too big. The train that's attached to the back of the uniform is kind of impractical, because when you're piloting your mecha or your starship, you're going to end up sitting on it. It was better-looking than the standard pilot uniform, though, so I didn't have the heart to bring it up with Jaania, our house leader.

When the elevator arrived at my destination, I disembarked. Smiling at Jaania, who smiled back, I strode to the back of the room and admired our personal artifact. It's a cube, covered with strange symbols and glowed blue. I don't know what it was for, exactly, but when I asked Jaania, she just smiled that soft smile at me and told me that it was left behind by the dragons, which didn't tell me anything at all.

When I turned back towards the elevator, however, Jaania said, "Hold on for a moment, Astra. I need to give you something." She moved over to the laser blade rack, which was situated next to the fire. She selected a staff, topped with our house symbol, and handed it to me. "I know that this isn't a laser blade, but seeing as you already have a black belt in that system, I've decided to give you all the information I have on mana manipulation. Here," she said, and pulled a book from the shelf. The cover was Runehawk blue, inlaid with a green eagle. "This is a book of spells. Only use them if absolutely necessary."

"Why are you giving me this?" I asked, flattered, but nonetheless rather embarrassed and surprised. Jaania had never shown any particular interest in me before, despite being our house-mother.

"You are receiving a very important mission from the dean today. You will need these items and skills to successfully carry out this mission. I wish you the best of luck."

She smiled at me, then shooed me in the direction of the elevator. "Go. Dean Warlic is expecting you."

I stepped into the lift, and pressed the button for floor 5. The doors opened on floor 4, which is where the dorms are, and let on a Mystraven pilot, who pointedly ignored me.

Mystraven is… Well, to sum it up in a word: mysterious. I think they're the ones who get along best with Mysterious Johnson, who, quite frankly, sometimes gets on my nerves. The other stereotypes, as far as jobs go, are like this: Wolfblade is the best at the hospital and the police station, and Runehawk's place is at the museum. Funny thing is, I personally like spending my time with Nurse Helia at the hospital a whole lot more than I like the museum. It might have something to do with the fact that I grew up helping out there…

Anyway, from what meager information I can gather, Mystravens are quick, cunning, and quite sneaky. Their mechs have high dodge capabilities, and their weapons have fast cool-down times. They also like to see Runehawk and Wolfblade argue with one another, as they just sit there and watch the show.

The Mystraven in the elevator did not get off at the dean's office with me. I guess she was going to class or something.

As I stepped into Dean Warlic's office, I tried to avoid the still, glassy gaze of the eyeball displayed on the front of Warlic's desk. It didn't move, but the thing still freaked me out. Tek, the resident mechanic who takes care of our mechs here in Soluna City, said that it had something to do with Jimmy the Eye, but when I asked what that was, she wouldn't answer. I guessed that it was related to Jimmy The Eye Pod, a mecha whom I had fought on numerous occasions.

Dean Warlic sat at his desk, with his elbows on the table and his chin resting on the intertwined fingers of his hands. It's hard to tell what he's thinking, sometimes. His fiery eyes always manage to stay expressionless, even in the face of crisis.

There was something else in the room, though, something incredibly out of place. There was a phone booth sitting off to the side of the desk.

We haven't used phone booths in ages. We have wireless headsets instead, as well as video connections. The only planet in our galactic sector that still uses them is Zargon, where their resident superheroes sometimes used to use them to change into their costumes. Of course, with Starfire as their only superhero now, the rest are changing over to using her specialized mechs.

So, there was a phone booth sitting there, next to Warlic's desk. It had something that looked like an umbrella that got struck by lightning stuck to the top of it.

"Ah, Astra, you've arrived," Dean Warlic said. "In light of your achievements regarding several different planets in the Solaris system, you have been selected for this very sensitive mission. Now, I'm afraid I will not be able to contact you during this mission. Also, very important: You will not have access to any of your mechs. You will discover the nature of this mission when you arrive at your destination. Please enter the phone booth and dial this number." He handed me a slip of paper with the number 2-141-556-2113 typed neatly on it in black lettering. He also handed me a sealed envelope. "Give this to me when you get there." What the heck did he mean by that?

Very confused, but not brave enough to tell the dean that I doubted him, I saluted him. "Yes, sir."

"Very well. Step into the booth and dial. Good luck." He rested his chin on his hands, and got back to his paperwork.

Dubiously, I opened the door to the booth, stepped inside, and subsequently discovered that it was just as cramped as it looked. I picked up the phone and quickly dialed the number. There wasn't an answering dial tone, which sort of worried me. I stood there for a moment, holding the receiver to my ear, not sure what I was supposed to do, when the box decided for me.

The small, enclosed space began wildly spinning, and something that sounded suspiciously like lightning began knocking it back and forth. The glass was a bit fogged up, so I couldn't make out the outside very well, but it looked sort of like a very large wind tunnel, as if I was caught in a very cylindrical, sideways tornado.

When the box finally came to a stop, I was sitting on the floor, hands over my head, quivering like the scared little girl I used to be.

The door was suddenly yanked open, and I looked up to see a man with a gigantic hammer. This realization, of course, made me want to curl up in a ball even more. I didn't, though. I just stared up at him with wide, green eyes.

He wasn't all that bad-looking. He had brown hair, with bangs that completely covered his eyes, and a nice enough face. He was wearing an emerald green robe of some sort, with a train not unlike my own. His was the same dark green as his shirt, though, and had embossed grey 'C's on the ends. Unfortunately, the only thing I could focus on was his uncomfortably wide smile.

"Hello there!" he said, flashing his very bright teeth at me, and I blushed. I do not spend a lot of time hanging out with the guys at GEARS University, as most of them are complete jerks, with the exception of Starbuck. The men I do interact with are my superiors, so it's not like I get embarrassed around them.

"Hi," I mumbled back.

"So, where'd you get this? This is my time machine, yeah?"

I was unsure if I should answer his question, as I didn't understand it myself.

What did that mean, that it was his time machine? As he kept staring at me expectantly, or what looked like staring at me as much as was possible without being able to see his eyes, I gave him a mumbled half-answer. "Um… Warlic gave it to me? I think?"

He had pretty sharp hearing, and actually understood my answer, based on his reply. "No, it couldn't be Warlic… I made this with Lim, and my past and future selves. And Selene, and Balinia as well… And Warlic definitely wouldn't keep something like this. He'd probably give it to Doctor When or something…"

Before I had a chance to react to this extremely odd response, someone else interrupted. "What the hell are you doing, Cysero?"

This confused me further. I had personally met Sys-Zero, who had been assimilated by a Shadowscythe, last year. It had taken his old commander, who was now Queenadent, to snap him out of it. He was dark-skinned, and had wild yellow hair that stuck up at odd angles. He always had these big flight goggles on, which prevented me from getting a good look at his face, but it was still obvious that the man blocking the exit from my rather unusual mode of transportation was not Sys-Zero.

I hastily grabbed for the staff and tome that Jaania had given me. I hadn't had a chance to take a look in the book yet, but I assumed I would need it for whatever was outside.

Cysero moved out of the way, revealing an irate-looking warrior. "Hey, Milodith! I didn't see you there!"

"As usual, you lunatic, you completely ignored my question." Her foot was tapping impatiently, and I slowly rose from my huddled position on the ground.

The girl certainly did not look happy. She was wearing a suit of medieval-looking armor, and had an impressive sword swung across her back. A scowl marred her face, and her messy black hair seemed to be in a state of permanent state of sticking up off the back off her head, giving the illusion of wind blowing it back. The hairstyle sort of reminded me of the superheroes on Zargon.

Her scowl deepened when she noticed me. "Who is this?"

I flashed a hesitant smile at her. Cysero replied, "I haven't the faintest clue. She was in there when I opened the door."

I hastily cleared my throat. "My name is Astra, ma'am."

The warrior just humphed, in a way that was unnervingly reminiscent of a

Wolfblade student I had beaten in a mecha battle. It had been a friendly spar, but the girl seemed extremely offended at my offer of "good game." She had demanded a rematch, in the form of a laser blade duel. I defeated her again, and she had stomped off in a huff. Whenever I saw her around Soluna City, she would just scowl at me, her face twisted into a mean-spirited sneer. This girl, though, seemed to have noticed the "ma'am" I had tacked on to the end of my sentence, and her expression softened a bit.

"You're a mage, right?"

I stared blankly at her, before looking down at the staff and book of spells in my hand. "I guess I am…?" What's a mage? Is that a practitioner of magic or something? Was Jaania planning on teaching me the ways of a mage? Wow, she must really see some potential in me!

She sighed, and ran a hand through her hair. "Go talk to Selene then. She may be a rogue, but she has some really good connections with the magical community. But watch out. Her dragon bites."

My eyes widened, and my hands fumbled so much that I almost dropped my staff. "D-dragon?"

"Yeah. You ok? You look a little pale." I was, in fact, caught in a combined state of shock and awe. A real dragon.

"S-sure. I'm fine. Where can I find Selene?"

Milodith sighed, and ran a hand through her hair. "She's probably at the inn. It's just over there." She pointed behind her, where the road continued to make its way through town. She stepped aside, and, gathering all my confidence, I walked in the direction of the inn. I pretended not to notice when she followed me at a discreet distance.

The town reminded me, in a way, of Lagos, with its medieval architecture and the strange clothing people wore. Outside the inn, I met a kid who looked about fourteen, only two years younger than I was, but looked much fresher. The smile on his face showed that he had never been faced with serious combat, never had to live through war. He was lucky. I didn't have that innocence at his age.

I spent the first few years of my life on the planet Yokai. When I was only three, pirates attacked our village. My parents handed me over to a neighbor, who was a doctor from Loreon, and told her to get me out of there. This neighbor ended up being Nurse Helia, who managed to get me to the safety of Soluna City. My parents weren't so lucky. They were killed in the raid.

I don't remember my parents. The memories of a three-year-old are fuzzy and distorted, so I don't even know what they look like. All the knowledge I have of them came from Nurse Helia, who told me that they were kind, caring people, and loved me very much. I do have some special clothes from Yokai, though. I bought them a few years ago while I was visiting there, searching for Jemini. I had stuffed them (after shrinking them) into the pouch that I always kept at my hip (the shrink ray was in there too, along with the reverse switch) before I left the dorm, so a piece of home was still with me even in this strange and unusual place.

I smiled at the kid, who already looked like he was going to grow up big and strong. "Hello," I said.

"Hi!" he replied, a big, sincere grin on his face. "I'm Ash! I'm going to be the greatest knight in all of Lore!" Man, did that kid make my heart ache. As well as my ears.

"Who are you? I haven't seen you around here before… Are you from Yokai?"

My smile froze on my face. I turned to look at Milodith, who was standing beside me. "You have interplanetary travel here?" I hissed out of the corner of my mouth.

"No," she scoffed, but quietly, so that Ash couldn't hear. "Yokai is just another name for the Isle of the Wind, on the other side of the continent. Why? Are you from a planet called Yokai?" It was obvious that she was still doubted the sincerity of my story.

I nodded, and turned back to Ash. He showed no sign of overhearing our conversation. "Yes, I am. I'm Astra. I'm a… uh…" I couldn't very well say "mecha pilot" could I? He wouldn't have any idea what it meant. I remembered the staff in my hands again. "…mage! Yes, I'm here on orders from my teacher to study dragons." I held out a hand, which he shook, a little too enthusiastically for my taste. I felt like I was shaking hands with Mysterious Johnson. I just hoped my excuse seemed plausible.

"So, you want to see the Guardian Tower's library, then? There's a lot of information about dragons up there. Or do you want to meet a real dragon? Selene's got one. Her name's Lyra, and she's green. Selene's inside, at Serenity's Inn, if you want to speak to her. She's really nice! She saved Falconreach from the Dark—"

At some point during Ash's blathering, Milodith had found a chance to sneak up behind him and cover his mouth. She was quite stealthy for someone who was dressed in full plate armor. It was quite a hilarious picture, actually, as Milodith was about a head taller than Ash.

"Thank you. We were just on our way to speak with her."

Ash seemed rather unfazed, as if things like that happened all the time. "Oh, Milodith, didn't see you there. Oh, say hi to Robina next time you see her, okay?"

"Will do," replied Milodith, through gritted teeth. Ash didn't seem to notice her hostility. Milodith practically shoved me into the inn, not even giving me a chance to take a look at the request board in the foyer.

She stopped at the front desk, which was manned by pretty young woman with blonde hair. "Hi, Serenity. Is Selene here?"

Serenity (who I assumed was the innkeeper) smiled and nodded. "She's in the back."

"Thank you." Milodith grabbed my arm and proceeded to drag me through the common room and into what looked like a disused storeroom.


	2. Chapter 2: Selene

Every hero needs a day off, right? Even if she is supposed to be responsible for saving all of Lore, preventing the planet from being destroyed is hard work. A hero sometimes deserves a vacation, and this was one of those times, especially after what had been happening recently.

So, I was taking what I felt was a well-deserved day off. After going through the reveal of that Doom Weapon guy, the horrid encroaching darkness, fighting that gigantic, horrid ultra mega darkness dragon, and having Warlic disappear, and generally being in a confused muddle, I was exhausted. So, all day, I had been trying to find a quiet space for myself to hide in. First, I holed myself up in the library of Oaklore Keep.

Maya was kind enough to leave me alone, and I was finally able to glean some relevant information about the Reset from one of the tomes. Ever since Lyra and I quested for the Wind Orb, I've puzzled over what the magical projection (which I found out was a technology-based imaging system called a hologram) named Kordana had meant by her comment about "the Reset." Apparently, Artix was a part of it, along with Cysero. It had something to do with very advanced technology that would make Lim cry with joy.

Before I could get very far though, Sir Ano came and started asking for my opinion on his (very terrible) new puns. As I was not in the mood for humor, I took a griffin over to Falconreach, and hid in the storage room at the back of the inn. I wanted to hide in the Guardian Tower library or the Libraseum, but the tower was always full of Guardians and the Libraseum wasn't open. They seemed to be short on librarians.

Serenity doesn't like the two guys who had recently started hanging out back there. This may be partly attributed to the fact that one of them, San Robin, wears a bright orange costume with an apron embossed with a picture of cheese. Ironically, he also seems to think that cheese is a fruit. His friend, Roblos, dresses like a bandit, so I can see why Serenity disapproves of them, although they do provide some pretty good weapons upgrades. She probably just doesn't want them to lower the reputation of her establishment.

I got to spend some very nice quiet time back there. Roblos and San Robin just sort of stood there, occasionally getting into fist fights about whether or not cheese was a fruit. Lyra was courteous of me as well, snuggling up next to me while I tried to formulate a plan to help Anomaly prosper.

My peace was disrupted when Milodith, accompanied by a stranger, barged in. To put it simply, I cannot stand Milodith. She's too loud and brash for my liking. She desperately wants to become a Guardian, and will do anything in her power to achieve her goal. Unfortunately, this includes challenging me to a duel when there's really no need to. She spent most of her time over in Doomwood, staying at Hunter's Paradise while battling the undead alongside Artix and studying the ways of a paladin. This, luckily, meant I rarely had to see her.

Unfortunately, it seemed like she was here now.

"Selene! A big metal box-thing with the word Phone on the side appeared in front of Cysero's forge. She was riding in it." The warrior stuck her thumb out in the direction of the stranger, who was wearing some rather unusual attire. Her clothing sort of reminded me of the people I met in Popsprocket, except she was human, and much taller than they were.

"My name is Astra, ma'am."

She looked incredibly uncomfortable, fidgeting awkwardly and avoiding my gaze.

She was kind of cute, actually, with her light green hair in buns with braids coming out of them. I forced myself to focus on the issue. This was not a time to be getting a crush on a girl from what was most likely from the past.

So, the phone booth was causing trouble again, huh? Typical. That thing has been trouble ever since it was first made, and I should know, since I was there.

I had been helping out Lim, the resident crazy weapons smith in our happy town of Falconreach. Cysero kept messing up his experiments, though, so Lim was not very pleased about that. Then, Cysero asked Lim for help on a project that he said "combined the power of science and magic together!" or something along those lines.

Although Lim was skeptical, he agreed to do it.

So, after I helped a bit by affixing an umbrella that had been struck by lightning to the top of a very familiar-looking phone box, Lim and Cysero, along with our Ravenloss liaison, worked some science-y magic on it, and we were introduced to the people we were building it for. Who turned out to be future versions of Cysero. One of them was a past version of Cysero, who apparently spelled his name Sys-Zero, actually, who I can only assume came from before the Reset.

And that wasn't even the first time I had encountered the phone box! It was right after Lyra had hatched; it had shown up, carrying future versions of Artix, Cysero, and Zhoom. They took me to a future version of Battleon, which now had its own Guardian Tower, apparently, and Lyra and I fought this gigantic titan intent on destroying the town!

That didn't actually damage the space-time continuum, though, so I guess it worked out in the end…

The last time I had seen that thing, Cysero and I were trying to defeat the Mysterious Stranger. Apparently, Cysero had been keeping the Bacon Orb in the basement of the Falconreach Guardian Tower. He had the brilliant idea of going back in time eight times and getting eight different versions of the Bacon Orb. Of course, as soon as we got to the eighth and final orb, this… thing showed up and started shooting at us with this laser wand-ish device.

According to Cysero, the thing was called Doctor When. I had heard of the Doctor, of course, the time-traveling alien vigilante who traveled around in something called a "Police Public Call Box" and looked like a human but had two hearts. This was obviously an alien trying to impersonate him. All of the books that I've read say that the Doctor carries something called a "sonic screwdriver" around with him. I asked some people from Popsprocket about it, and they said that it wasn't a weapon, and that it worked by manipulating sound waves. Well, the thing that Doctor When was shooting us with was basically an equivalent of a laser screwdriver, except for the fact that it wasn't really a screwdriver and was more like a chrono-blaster. After we knocked the alien out (and let me tell you, it took a long time, as well as the help of a good friend of mine), we were able to combine all the Bacon Orbs together to form an Ultimate Bacon Orb, which I fused with Lyra (who suddenly became gigantic!) to defeat the mega ultra darkness dragon formerly known as Fluffy, the Mysterious Stranger, the Ultimate Orb, and Prince Drakath.

I later found out that the reason that Doctor When was so angry at Cysero was because the maniac had once borrowed the alien's box. Apparently, that's where Cysero got the plans to build that thing.

Anyway, seeing the girl reminded me of one of the versions of Cysero that was in Cysero's tower when we completed the time machine. He had kept on insisting that his name was Sys-Zero, not Cysero.

I studied Astra more closely from my position on the floor. She was holding a book with the embossed symbol of an eagle on the cover, and was carrying a staff that looked like it was made of some kind of metal. The eagle symbol I recognized. I had seen something similar at a temple I had investigated at Valencia's request, on a piece of pottery that I had put back together.

"Hello, there. I'm Selene." I shifted into a more comfortable sitting position. Lyra was still hiding in my cloak. "Astra is such a beautiful name." I sent a soft smile up at her, and she blushed.

I mentally berated myself. No flirting! I cannot flirt with the girl from the past. Bad things will happen, she will have to leave, and I will be left lonely again. Therefore, absolutely no flirting.

"Thank you," she replied, looking down at her shoes.

"So, what do you need?"

Before Astra had a chance to answer, Milodith butted in. "She's a mage. You have connections. Get her to someone. Preferably someone sane, though. I don't think she'd appreciate getting shoved off onto Xan or Cysero." Astra hesitantly nodded in agreement.

So, Milodith wanted the time-traveller off her hands. Apparently she thought she had better things to do than play baby-sitter. Well, I wouldn't let her off the hook.

"Alright, but Milodith, you have to come with us."

Milodith crossed her arms and stuck out her lip in what was meant to be a tough version of a pout. "Why do I have to come?"

"Oh, I don't know… maybe because you're the one who brought her to me in the first place?"

Milodith ground her teeth together, but failed to come up with a good comeback. I turned to Astra. "So, you're a mage, huh? I have some friends that are really good at magic, although they aren't all mages. I can introduce you to them, if you like." I really didn't want her to have to deal with Nythera and her moods. Even if she had her dragon magic back, and had discovered and begun to master her void magic, she was still grumpy, especially after Warlic had disappeared. With all the times she had complained about him, I was sort of surprised how negatively she reacted to her mentor's disappearance.

"What about Warlic?" Milodith asked. I was tempted to facepalm. Trust Milodith to forget that Warlic had disappeared. Her (idiotic) question seemed to make Astra remember something, though.

"Warlic? Oh! Dean Warlic told me to deliver this letter to him before he sent me here. I didn't exactly know what that meant, but since you have a different version of Sys-Zero, I suppose you have a version of the dean as well! Can you take me to him? It's important."

I shifted uncomfortably. "Milodith? Don't you remember what happened to Warlic?"

Milodith gave me a blank look. "No. He came back after the Elemental craziness, right? Isn't that why there's a memorial statue of him? He supposedly died and came back to life, right?"

I sighed, putting a hand over my face. That's right. Milodith hadn't been with me at the final encounter with the darkness dragon. She didn't know about what had happened to the ancient mage. I hated to break the news to her, but I figured that she wouldn't really care one way or the other. Astra, on the other hand, was another matter entirely. Luckily, I wasn't the one to break the news to the (incredibly cute) time traveler.

"Warlic disappeared after the darkness," intoned Lyra, coming out from where she had been hiding under my cloak.

Astra didn't seem to acknowledge what Lyra had said. Instead, she was fixated on the dragon herself.

I had only been with Lyra for a year, and already we had a great bond. Before I had even known her, everyone seemed to be after her egg. Well, not everyone. Mainly Prince Drakath, Sepulchure's (incompetent) minion at the time. I still didn't know what exactly he was the prince of. I initially encountered the egg when I was wandering around Oaklore, trying to find someone who would be willing to train me.

I was looking out over a cliff, minding my own business, when suddenly, this gigantic red dragon landed right in front of me. I was scared out of my wits. I thought it was going to eat me.

Instead of devouring me, it bowed its head, and revealed a woman in white priestess garb, holding a black box with the image of a dragon head on it, and a red moglin with a staff. Both of them just walked past me, and I followed them. Then the moglin, apparently named Twilly, came flying back, and I had to fight a gorillaphant to save the priestess. Her name was Lady Celestia, and she disappeared after that. I told Captain Rolith about what she said, and had to rush to go save her from the psychopath who was trying to steal the box. That was my first battle with Drakath, and I must say, I felt pretty proud of myself when I beat his face into the ground.

But the box wasn't with Lady Celestia anymore; it had been stolen by a sneevil. I had to go all the way to Surewould Forest and help out Robina the Hood and fight Drakath again, only to discover that the contents of the box had been abandoned in the middle of the sneevil dump site. So I met Valencia and got to the egg, only to have it taken away by a vultragon, so then I had to go to the vultragon lair and kill that, and somehow ended up with six identical eggs… oh wait, I broke one of them, make that five eggs.

Valencia then sent me to Warlic, and you wouldn't believe how much trouble I went through to figure out which one was the dragon egg. That's what was in the black dragon box. I made one of the eggs into an omelet, then fought demented sock monsters, elementals, and a giant stone head to gather air, fire, water, and earth materials for Warlic. Only to find that these materials would be used to summon a creature that would be able to distinguish the dragon egg so it could eat it. I ended up having to kill it (no easy task, mind you), and Warlic didn't help in the battle at all.

So after the Doomkitten was defeated (seriously, that's what it was called), I had my dragon egg. I quickly got bored waiting around for something to happen. I tried several different things to get it to hatch, including but not limited to: singing lullabies, trying to rock it back and forth, giving it encouragement, and even downright begging it to hatch, only to discover that Twilly knew the exact date it was going to hatch and didn't tell me. When Lyra did hatch, though, she promptly fell asleep with Twilly in her mouth, so I suppose I got my revenge.

We've been through a lot together, including fighting various other (hostile) dragons (including the one that carried Lady Celestia and Twilly to me, who we had to deliver a package to) and other titan-sized enemies. Lyra has a very special ability: she can transform into a titan-sized dragon whenever he wants, despite only being a juvenile.

Astra had knelt down to look Lyra in the eye. She seemed to be awestruck. "You're beautiful," she said, admiring Lyra with wonder.

I was surprised. Usually, when people complimented Lyra, they addressed their compliments to me. Maybe, because Lyra had spoken, Astra understood that dragons were intelligent creatures.

"Thank you," replied Lyra. She looked distinctly smug, glancing from her back over to me. Oh, no, she was going to try to play matchmaker, I just knew it. This was going to be a pain.

Finally, Astra seemed to realize what I had said. She frowned.

"How am I supposed to complete my mission then?"

I finally got to my feet. "We're going to Ravenloss. Hopefully we can find you some help there."


End file.
